How to Find The Right Water Softener System

Best Water Softener for YOUR needs

The internet offers a lot of opinions and information about hard water softeners here in Jacksonville, Florida and throughout the nation. You probably have questions about water softeners, hence the reason you are reading this article today. If you are unfamiliar with water softeners, then you may find conflicting data or analysis regarding what kind or what type of water softener is right for your needs. This is because water chemistry and plumbing codes differ from area to area, state to state. Using a well established highly reputable LOCAL water company is your best option for both product application and customer support and here is why.

Premium National Brands; Best Value and Best Customer Support

Doing business with a local water retailer, who has the backing of a national reputable brand, can be a great asset to you. Costing a small amount more than segment two below, One Person Businesses, the quality and customer support will more than out weigh the cost of purchasing from Florida Water Technologies.

Does Florida Water Technologies have insurance to cover the installation of a water softener?

Most national brands audit their certified and approved dealers annually for customer service reviews and insurances. That audit process is done before a national brand will grace a business to use their quality water softener products and have checks and balances in place to help protect themselves and protection for you the end user. For example, Florida Water Technologies carries max limits on general liability, workers compensation and commercial auto as a requirement of doing business with the national brands.

What product line does Florida Water Technologies consider for installation in a residential or commercial property?

Our Hellenbrand product line exceeds the quality of wholesale brands by a mile. On average Hellenbrand water softeners are 30% more efficient than standard brands, and last 4 times as long. Hellenbrand has over 250 dealers nationwide and each one was personally interviewed before access to the products were allowed. A national brand has more money for research and development and this focus will result in a premium build water softener that last’s and last’s. I can’t think of one national premium brand that will allow their products to be distributed through a One Person Business that has a PO BOX for an address.

What is the price of a water softener system?

A note here on pricing. Jacksonville Florida water softeners that are made and distributed in this segment differ in price greatly. Because the water systems are significantly better than a wholesale reseller, a lot of dealers will attempt to price their systems very high and play pushy sales games when selling to the public. Companies like Culligan Water, Rainsoft, WET Avanta Pure, all start thousands of dollars higher than what the actual price is and then they walk you down from there. Their idea, not our idea, is to make as much money off of you as possible. I was recently with a customer who sought to purchase a Culligan system that included a water softener and a reverse osmosis drinking water system, the salesman started at $5,800 and after a hour of back and forth he dropped $2000 off that price and the homeowner threw him out. Similar games are played by Rainsoft and WET Avanta Pure. If you have had an experience like this Florida Water Technologies would love a chance to provide a second opinion.

The mission of our company is to provide great water softeners, common sense prices. We don’t play games and Florida Water Technologies doesn’t need two hours to provide an estimate. Our site visits are usually 20-30 minutes in length, polite efficient and courteous is how we treat our customers.

Known as more of a do-it-yourself (DIY) type water system these low priced, store bought units are competitive on price only. If things like water softener quality, system efficiency, and knowledgeable customer support are important to you, this would not be a good option.

Let’s say You and I want to start a water softening company to service Nocatee, Ponte Vedra, and Jacksonville and our business plan is to simply provide the lowest priced system to a achieve a low resistance price sale. We would have to manufacture a water softener system using the lowest grade components like water softener resin, tanks, valves, but this type of water softener system is built at a low cost. Common sense would say that this type of water softener system would not sustain functionality as long as the premium built systems, that’s why the water softeners at Home Depot and Lowes only offer a one year parts and labor warranty. Poorly manufactured water softener store bought units offer the least amount of warranty and lackluster customer support and are regarded in the industry as a throw away type water softener system. For example the big retailers like Home Depot and Lowes don’t have service vans with water softener technicians on staff who can provide you product support for this type of purchase.

Wholesale Resellers; One Person Business = Limited Support, not always most competitive priced.

A common business model that is practiced with in the water softener business is the single person style business. Often times these businesses use the simplest means to organize, ficticous name registration, carry no business insurance and are unsure how to provide customer support down the road. We will talk about the insurance side of things later but for now let’s look at the products these other water softener businesses provide.

Flecks, Clacks, and Autotrol’s are the wholesale brands of choice for these businesses because these manufacturers don’t require any minimums to purchase, meaning that someone can buy one or two at a time. Instead of buying direct from Clack, for example, One Person Water Businesses buy from a middle man, like a plumbing supplier. While the quality of these products should outperform the previous segment, store bought water softener units, they often do not. You see the One Person Business may decide to build their systems with the lowest quality grade water softener tanks and water softener resin media. If their location is a PO BOX and nothing more, then chances are they are not going to invest in a more costly water softener since their only chance of making sales is to undercut the market. The water softening resin media is the heart of the water system and most plumbing suppliers only carry cheap resin’s manufactured overseas, to save on money. We have seen these cheap water softener resin media in Jacksonville Fl fail after a few short years! If you had to change your water softeners resin media every 3-4 years that would get expensive really quick, but that’s the risk you run when buying from a One Person Business.

Insurance Risk – let the buyer beware. When a homeowner in the State of Florida hires a water softener company to install a hard water softener, the homeowner assumes all liability for physical or property damage potentially caused by the company. That’s right, if the One Person Business installs a water softener and either hurts himself or a leak causes damage to your home? You will pay the medical bills and home repairs if they don’t carry insurance. To protect yourself make sure a company shows you these three insurances, Commercial Auto, Workers Compensation, and General Liability. Each time a business cuts or refuses to carry one of these it increases the risk that you will assume.

Lastly, One Person Businesses often struggle to provide product and customer support. Common sense would tell us if the installer was the person who sold you the water softener, who is also the service technician, and the office manager; then chances are obtaining service will be slow and unreliable if service is provided at all. A lot of One Person Water Businesses are simply in it for the sale and nothing more. And if you tried to find them for service needs, I guess you could stop by their PO BOX.